


A Brief Moment in Time (With You)

by Sar_Kalu



Category: NCIS
Genre: Abby Being A Minor Asshole, Anthony is Not Nearly As Funny As He Thinks He Is, Ari is a dick, BlackWidowStyleZiva, CharacterExploration, Gibbs being Gibbs, Gibbs' Rules, Jenny Shepard is awesome, McGeeEnvy, Multi, ShortChapters, SlowBurnRomance, SpansSeveralSeasons, VignetteStyleFic, ziva needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-09 02:32:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7783342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sar_Kalu/pseuds/Sar_Kalu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Ari’s missions involved NCIS,” Ziva defended herself without thought, her lips tightening into a thin, white line that expressed her frustration and displeasure with the American’s that surrounded her. “As his controller,” Ziva stated with forced calm, “of course I did dossiers on everyone he might interact with.”</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Ziva David is not someone who is prone to making mistakes; she is someone who follows a strict progression of events to their intended resolution and maintains control at all times. That was, of course, until she landed in D.C at the behest of both her Director and that of NCIS' Jenny Shepard to ascertain the nature of Ari Haswari's agenda with Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Ziva did not expect any of *this* to happen, but then, looking back on everything, she can't say she didn't enjoy the ride or the results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brief Moment in Time (With You)

 

**A Brief Moment in Time - With You**

 

[Episode Tag: KILL ARI: II]

...

 

* * *

 

 

“She profiled you for Ari.”

 

The tension in the room skyrocketed with Director Shepard’s admission, and Special Agent Gibbs’ gaze - steel blue and unforgiving - narrowed at the Mossad Agent, who was dressed in a pair khaki slacks and tan collared shirt, beside him. Ziva David raised her chin pointedly, ignoring the way Special Agent DiNozzo stared at her in shock, knowing that any attempt to recover ground lost after tonight would be nigh impossible. Not that it mattered, it wasn’t as though she was staying in D.C long, she was here to extract Ari, clear his name, and that was it. The American’s didn’t matter. Not in the long run.

 

“Not just the Boss,” Special Agent DiNozzo was quick to realise, his hazel eyes widening in evident surprise. “That’s how you knew where I was born, and where I went to school!” Ziva’s mysterious allure was quickly tarnishing in the wake of rapid revelations that did not reflect well upon her. She was supposed to be on their side, not the enemy; and even the Forensic Scientist, Abigail Scuito, was glaring at her in betrayal. 

 

“Ari’s missions involved NCIS,” Ziva defended herself without thought, her lips tightening into a thin, white line that expressed her frustration and displeasure with the American’s that surrounded her. “As his controller,” Ziva stated with forced calm, “of course I did dossiers on everyone he might interact with.”

 

Director Shepard was the only one to seemingly understand Ziva’s unenviable position. “It’s S.O.P at Kumemiute,” she shrugged DiNozzo’s accusations off, meeting Ziva’s eyes in silent support.

 

Special Agent Gibbs straightened his posture and lifted his chin, “Director, Abs, Tony,” he said evenly, “give me a minute alone with Miss David, please?”

 

Ziva watched as Special Agent DiNozzo hovered uncertainly as the Forensic Scientist and the Director both filed out immediately, trusting in the senior Agent’s abilities while DiNozzo was torn between obeying a direct command and protecting his boss and commanding officer. The silence of the lab was stifling in the wake of the absence of three other breathing bodies, and the metal surfaces were far too like a medical clinic for Ziva’s preferences. Still, she remained calm and silent beneath the weight of Special Agent Gibbs’ assessing gaze. She had weathered the judgement of men far more dangerous and terrifying than he.

 

“You found out about my first wife and daughter.”

 

It was a statement; not a question. 

 

The bold syllables burned through the air between them and Ziva felt her breath freeze in her lungs. She knew better than the believe that the man before her was anything but a private and closed off person. Agent Gibbs would not be a man to trust easily and she suspected that her profiling had crossed a horrible, vulnerable line that was unforgivable in his eyes.

 

“Yes,” Ziva’s voice was breathless and rushed, the air slipping between stiff lips like a lead balloon. “I’m sorry.” 

 

The words felt insignificant. Ziva had pried into this mans life, had torn it asunder in the search of his every deepest, darkest secret and then handed them over to Ari with little concern for how that might be received by him. Either of them. Ari had always been a serious boy with clever hands that broke as easily as they repaired, and Ziva knew better than to believe that he wouldn’t utilise any and all information she had given him against Gibbs.

 

Not for the first time, Ziva found herself wondering if the silver haired Agent in front of her was correct in his assessment of Ari. That this fight was more personal than business, but that was not a revelation she was ready to face just yet. Although Ziva was beginning to realise that she just might not have a choice in the matter.

 

Agent Gibbs’ mouth thinned in fury and betrayal, the skin about his eyes tightening until his bright blue eyes were rimmed with white. “Then we know why Ari is shooting at women, don't we?”

 

Ziva was unable to help the unconscious closing of her eyes as her stomach swooped deep down through her shoes into the middle of the earth and right out the other side to free fall through space. Her head spun, and in the place of the agonised man in front of her...

 

Stood her father... His appearance - aged brown eyes, neatly combed black hair sprinkled with white, and thin, tight lips surrounded by an even, close cropped black beard. His hands - large and strong, capable of killing as they had been as guiding even the most strong-willed operatives with a calm confidence that, to this day, Ziva still envied desperately. His body - tall, broad shouldered, healthy in it’s strength. And above all, his words that had set her on this path, the youngest Mossad controller in twenty years…

 

_“Tali is dead, Ziva, she is_ **_never_ ** _coming back. There’s nothing left to bury; Hamas made sure of that. There is just the mission now. Just the work she left behind for you, to make a safer place for other Tali’s.”_

 

Contrasted with what she knew and saw of Agent Gibbs’ - his blue eyes are compassionate as they were coldly determined while the dips at the corners of his mouth speak of tragedy just as much as the lines at the corners of his eyes speak of good humour; his hands are gentle with a quiet strength that guides as much as it chastises, and Ziva find comfort in that; and his body is just as strong strong but stocky in comparison while his shoulders seem not as broad as her fathers; and yet, for all of this, Agent Gibbs wears just as much an air of competence and confidence as Deputy Director David. 

 

Ziva’s eyes open again, and between once blink and the next, his words follow her through the elevator and out into the slickly wet Navy yard, where she stares up at the hazy, cloud covered sky with wide eyes and a heavy aching heart. The differences between them both are many and varied, and yet, despite knowing Agent Gibbs for a brief moment in time, Ziva trusts him more than she has any right to. Her father would have never said what Agent Gibbs had just dismissed her with…

 

_“Then I’m counting on you to back me up.”_

 

**———-**

**———-**


End file.
